Persist
In the platformer created by Ludum Dare veteran, Jussi Simpanen, for their 26th competition, the theme of minimalism was embraced in both graphics and gameplay. But don't let that fool you into thinking the story runs the same way. Having committed a horrible act, you must platform your way through dangerous levels to beg forgiveness and prove your worth of it. The fine melding of story and level design will have you invested in the character by the mysterious ending.
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Game of the week
For the love of Pete...don't hit Escape while playing. It boots you back to the start screen and wipes out your progress...
playable up to the level where you lose the ability to swim, after about the 3rd waterfall it's impossible to make the jump due to the blocks above you so you fall into the water and die every time.
Did you try
jumping up and over those blocks?
I had no issues with the platforming and thought it was very well done considering the time constraints. A decent LD game overall, the open interpretation appears to be intentional. I can't figure out if that is what the developer was going for or if they just ran out of time. Either way, a nice little five minute diversion.
Found the game pretty fun, and even with less and less capabilities as the game progressed some amount of challenge was still there.
Short storyline to accompany the game, which at least was somewhat explained at the end without being too draggy. A great game to play if you only have a few minutes!
I thought the platforming was great, and the progression of the handicaps was fitting both thematically and in regards to challenge. The controls felt just right, and I never felt like I died because the game didn't register a jump. The graphics were minimal but looked great anyway because they were consistent in quality and had just the right level of detail.
I didn't care for the closing statements, though. The reveal at the end had potential, but I would've liked if there was more symbolism along the way to foreshadow the ending. I also felt like the choice of words at the end was a little too specific and revealing of the nature of your 'crime'. Either enough information to formulate a detailed theory or so little to allow for a lot of very broad interpretations would have been preferable to me.
Plot musings:
The term "Assailant" pretty much nails down that the harm was direct, without any information available to give it nuance. You could probably read into her portrayal as a goddess to suggest you knew the woman and had some kind of relationship with her that made her important to you, but that's also left ambiguous and there don't appear to be any hints to narrow that relationship down, if it even exists.
Then again, maybe there are hidden clues that I managed to miss completely and the whole thing is secretly iceberg-vania like in plot. If that were the case, I'd retract my criticism completely because that would be awesome.
All in all, though, it's a great result considering the limited time frame.
I enjoyed it, it felt very reminiscent of a game called Tower of Heaven from a few years ago. That said, I don't know why, but several of the screens with moving parts became unbearably laggy for me, which made beating the later parts of the game... interesting, to say the least.
Nice little game. The controls were really well done, with the right amount of motion, start and stop time, and stick. Particularly important on the ast level.
The jump was tricky to get used to, as it always jumps the same height no matter how long you hold it.
It was interesting, especially because rather than the levels getting harder, as you go you slowly lose limbs and abilities that those limbs grant you. An interesting reversal of the "harder levels, more abilities" shtick that a lot of games have. :)
I found the controls a little sticky and I had some lag, but reading the comments it might just be a problem on my end.
Other than that I had no problem. The second I got frustrated with an impossible jump was the moment I conquered it... I like a game that lives up to it's name. Interesting concept and unique take on the theme of Minimalism. As for delving into the meaning of the end, I personally thought it was to be taken at face value. But that's just me.
By the time I reached the end I thought for sure it was going to be a mother & unborn child relationship between the two...probably my own bias (recently watched The Seventh Sign) showing through.
Other than the Escape button thing, I agree that it was very well done for the time constraint. Graphics were consistent, platforming felt good but you still had to pay attention, no challenges too difficult if you just persisted. :)
sticky awful controls make simple game unplayable
@Alex M- That almost sounded like a Haiku.
Stuck on the second half, or maybe two thirds of the way in of the level where you loose
your body
I can get through the first part no problem but as soon as I
jump
to the second part, where there are lots of short ledges I seem to go back to the start. I've been on this level for a while and am frustrated. Any advice?
Also, I so far haven't seen any indication that the high power is female, but maybe something will be revealed at the end.
Oh, for a mute button.
This is the second time I've encountered this bug, and it's incredibly frustrating.
During the second level after you
lose your legs and ability to jump,
there's a section with two towers/pistons that move up and down while you try to keep going and avoid being killed. Twice now, in my attempt to cross these, I have somehow accidentally fallen through the wall and landed in some sort of negative space below the game. I can move around from one side to another (as evidenced by the 'moving' sound and the camera scrolling when I press the arrow keys), but on either side there is a barrier that prevents me from moving if I run far enough. There is no way to get out of this area; I can't even make my character commit suicide and start again from the top of the level, so the only way to progress is to restart the game from the very beginning.
Since this bug is encountered after a fair amount of progress and tricky jumps, it's incredibly irritating to not only be able to not pass this area and progress but to have to start all over again to even have a chance to. I'd like to finish the game, but I'm not sure whether or not I want to play it all over for a third or fourth time until I finally pass through that area without accidentally falling into the Persist-Netherworld again.
Power of the post seems to have got me through the level and finally through to the end of the game! Still, it's a fairly annoying bug.
the blocks in the last water level are a trick you can beat the level by running around the blocks and then quickly jumping toward 2 blocks later in the level. you have absolutely no time to do this. I would say only about 2.5 seconds. the first hell level you can go through the platforms which can cause you to get permanently stuck in the background in hell resulting in game over.
This has the potential to be a really good game, but the controls are way too sensitive.
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